Israeli soldier who shot downed Palestinian moving to house arrest

Jul 17, 2017

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Elor Azaria, the Israeli soldier convicted of manslaughter for shooting a downed Palestinian terrorist, will be released to house arrest.

Azaria, who was convicted in January and sentenced in February, has been confined to the closed Nachshonim military base since being arrested in March 2016. However, his military service is ending Thursday and he must leave the base.

A military court ruled Monday that Azaria will go to house arrest. He will be required to remain at his parents’ home in Ramle, in central Israel, and can attend Shabbat services in a synagogue on Friday night and Saturday if accompanied by a family member.

Azaria is appealing his conviction and military prosecutors are appealing his 18-month jail sentence for being too lenient. He does not have to report to prison until his appeals are exhausted.

A military court will rule on the appeals by the end of the month, according to reports.

Azaria, a medic in the elite Kfir Brigade, came on the scene following a Palestinian stabbing attack on soldiers in Hebron in the West Bank on March 24, 2016. One assailant was killed, and Abdel Fattah al-Sharif was injured. Minutes later, while Sharif was lying on the ground, Azaria shot him in the head in a shooting that was captured on video by a local resident for the Israeli human rights NGO B’Tselem.

Azaria was arrested the same day and indicted nearly a month later. Autopsy reports showed that the shots by Azaria killed Sharif. Prior to shooting Sharif, Azaria had cared for a stabbed soldier.